Consumers may obtain VoIP services by using the services of a service provider. The consumers have to sign-up for the services. For example, Vonage®, a registered trademark of Vonage Marketing, Inc., a Delaware Corporation based in New Jersey, has a consumer sign-up and receive a piece of hardware in order to connect to use VoIP. VoIP may also be provided to consumers on personal computers through PC-based VoIP providers. An example of such a provider is SKYPE®, a registered trademark of Skype Limited Corporation of Ireland. These PC-based VoIP providers also have consumers sign-up in order to use VoIP.
Furthermore, VoIP services either have the consumer obtain a new phone number for receiving VoIP calls or have the consumer assign an existing number to the VoIP service provider. Typically the consumer also has to sign a service contract. For PC-based VoIP, consumers also have to configure their personal computers in order to use VoIP. Non-technical consumers may have difficulty with such configurations.